Cold Melodies
by Teshka
Summary: Alana is sixteen and still believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Sandman. One day in March, near Easter, she is sitting by a pool and singing some of her favorite songs, and snow gets dropped on her. She looks up to see a strange boy with white hair . . .
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all, so this is my first fan fic that I have posted, I wrote another one about the Hobbit but I don't think it's that good. Anyway, so on to this one. I have recently gotten in to fan fics, and was talking to my mom about fan fics, and she said something along the lines of, 'it's a good idea to write fan fiction. you don't have to post it, just write it'. I decided to post it, as you can see. Now, this is a work in process, and I'm going to wait a while to see how this firs part goes across to do any more writing. I warn you ahead of time, I have an awful habit where I get bored with a story or lose interest or whatever and I stop. I do apologize if this happens, and I will try to let it not happen. Please write reviews on what you think, nothing is too mean, unless you're cussing _at me._ If you're cussing because something surprised you, fine. :) Just not at me please :) I also apologize if my characters swear and that makes you uncomfortable. **

**Without further ado, enjoy!**

My name is Alana, and I live in Burgess and I have believed in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny for the entirety of my sixteen years on this planet. One cold morning in March, nearing Easter, I was walking along the main road when a cold wind blasted down and frost began cropping up on vehicles, and windowpanes. As the wind blew past me, I shuddered, turned up my collar, and though I heard someone laughing. A guy's laugh . . . maybe a teenager, like me? It was hard to tell, and I wasn't even sure it was real. I shrugged and hunched my shoulders, anticipating another cold blast, as I turned left en route to my house.

On the way to my house, there's a statue rearing out of the ground of a family looking happy. All around this statue, every winter, there accumulates a snow bank. It was while I was walking by this statue that my neighbor, Jamie Bennett came hurtling past, clutching his sled, and ended up face planting in the snow. As he jetted past, I stopped, severely startled, and stared as he received a face full of snow. When he emerged from the snow bank, he looked rather comical with snow on his hat and his face red from the cold. However, my grin turned to an expression of worry when a couch suddenly shot out from nowhere and smacked him in the face. He again popped up, this time with a gap in his mouth, holding a tooth and yelling something about it. I chuckled at the resilience of boys, but paused. Was that complaining I heard from on top of the statue? It sounded like a teenage boy griping about a fun sled ride or something. I looked at the statue, but it was the same, shrugged, and continued on my way. I didn't make it far before Jamie saw me.

"Alana! Alana! Did you see that? I went _whoosh _and then there was the snow bank and the statue and I thought I was going to hit it, and I didn't, and then the couch hit me, and I lost a tooth!" At the end of his fast-paced story, he held his tooth up, proudly, a grin plastered to his face. I smirked and shoved his hat down over his eyes and replied, "Yeah, but don't make that winter spirit or whatever complain anymore about some sled ride, it's annoying." Jamie looked up at me, confused, then looked back at the tooth in his hand, grinning.

I knew he probably wouldn't take me seriously, but I had to hope, because it was mainly because of him that I continued believing in people like the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. The kid was incredible when it came to holidays and such, always blathering on and on about 'oh Santa gave me an awesome gift this year' or 'Alana! The Tooth Fairy gave me a coin!' or 'I found another egg! Woah! Look at the cool pattern! The Easter Bunny must have worked really hard on this one!' He was so friggin' enthusiastic it made me enthusiastic, thus me continuing my belief in 'Fairy Tales' as my friends liked to say.

We reached Jamie's house first, so he walked up the drive to his front door, pausing there to wave at me, still holding that infernal tooth, not thinking to have put it in his pocket. I waved back, smiling, and walked to the next house, mine, and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. As I entered, I shouted, "I'm home!" and began taking off my layers. My mom yelled back from the kitchen, a simple greeting, and the computer room door was open, so I assumed that's where my dad was, probably editing some video he had made with his friend.

I stepped up the stairs in my room, being as quiet as possible, simply because I didn't like loud obnoxious noises. I walked to the right at the top of the stairs, followed the railing and entered my bedroom, with two large windows, both leading out onto snowy rooftop. If I ever wanted to run away from home or something, I could definitely get out that way, just open the window, pull the screen in, and climb out. Easy peasy. However, I had no desire to do such a thing, so it never happened.

I plunked myself on my purple bed and pulled my iPod out of my pocket, sticking the ear buds in my ears, and pushing 'play'. 'My Choice of Words' by Confide blared in my ears, and I whispering the screamo part to the singing part, and joined in with Joel Piper.

_Are you even listening?_

_This can't be it_

_I've come to conclusion you're stuck in confusion_

_You left me alone when I needed you most_

_Is this it?_

_Are you listening?_

_I've come to conclusion you're stuck in confusion_

_You left me alone when I needed you most._

I loved Joel Piper's voice, and he was the _drummer_. I know right? The _drummer_ and he can sing _that well_. Every time I listened my mind was boggled. The song switched to Fall Out Boy's 'Phoenix' and I sang along with the Chorus again.

_Hey young blood,_

_Doesn't it feel_

_Like our time is running out?_

_I'm gonna change you like a remix_

_Then I'll raise you like a Phoenix_

I hummed along until I heard mom yell something, so I pulled one ear bud out and shouted, "What?" mom yelled again, "Dinner time!"

"Okay!" I pushed 'Pause', pulled the ear buds out of my ears and ran down the stairs. I never walk down our stairs, always run, because they're steep, and you build up momentum so you physically cannot go slow down those stairs.

I ate a calm dinner with my family, then decided to go for a walk to the nearby pond and just sit, so I ran up the stairs, grabbed my iPod, and dashed out the door, telling mom where I was going.

I walked through town to the park, and made it to the woods in good time. It took another five minutes or so to reach the pool in the clearing. I sat myself down on a rock overlooking the pool, pulled out my iPod and started playing 'For Good' from one of my favorite musicals, Wicked and singing along with the characters, Glinda and Elphaba. The song itself was about saying goodbye and hoping the other person has a good life, but without 'you'. I loved it. Not because it pertained to me, it didn't, just for the simple reason of the two voices sounding beautiful together and the story adorable. When the song ended, I paused it again, and just sat there, humming the tune to myself.

Suddenly, there was a rattling of branches above me and snow got dropped on my head and slightly down my back. I shrieked and jumped off the rock, clawing at my back and pulling my coat away to try to get the snow away from my skin. It melted, as it always does, and stung my back as it rolled down. I arched my back, grimacing, and looked up into the top of the tree to find the perpetrator, assuming it was a squirrel or something. Instead, I found myself looking at a teenage boy with white hair and ice-blue eyes. He was laughing, practically falling off the branch he was perched precariously on, holding onto a stick that looked like a natural shepherd's hook.

I scowled at him and huffed, turning away from him and walking out onto the ice of the pool. As soon as my foot hit the ice, he stopped laughing and I heard wind behind me. I didn't care, I needed my concentration to keep my footing as I slowly walked on to the ice. The snow in the grooves of my boots made it more slippery so I flailed my arms oh so gracefully until I stood still, looking like a cross in a church, confident enough to put one foot in front of the other in a makeshift skating pattern.

As I came around the pool, I noticed the boy standing stiffly at the edge of the pool, staring worriedly at my feet.

"Don't worry, I won't fall, I do this all the time. Besides, it's been cold enough recently to be decently frozen." He looked up at me, and seemed to realize I was talking to him. His face shifted from worried to confused, and his reply was strange, "You can see me?"

"Well duh, otherwise I wouldn't have talked to you, now would I?"

He simply stood there, looking dumbfounded. He shook his head a couple of times and said, "No, I mean you can see me? Really _see _me?"

I stopped fake skating and answered his question with another one, "What, am I not supposed to be able to see you? Were you wearing an Invisibility Cloak or something?" His face went blank. Shoot. He didn't get the reference.

When I said nothing else, he looked down at his feet, seemingly contemplating something. Then he looked up, "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

He looked shocked, "Do you believe in Jack Frost?"

That was an odd question I thought, but I answered it nonetheless, "I suppose so, he's in the same league with Santa Claus and the rest, right?"

"Not really . . . but somewhat . . ." He looked down again, a frown appearing on his face.

"What kind of an answer is that?" I asked, sliding towards him, ending up standing about four feet away from him, just looking at him. His clothes were a little strange, because he had a faded blue hoody, and trousers. Like, trousers from the seventeen hundreds or something. Not to mention the fact that both his sweatshirt and his trousers had frost on them, and his lips were blue as if he were really cold.

"Aren't you cold?" Since I was curious and he didn't look like he was going to be answering my other question any time soon.

He looked up at me, then down at his clothes, his hands in his hoody pocket.

"No."

"You look like you're freezing."

"I'm fine."

"Your lips are blue."

"They're always blue."

"Do you have hypothermia?" I asked, a little worried now.

"No, but . . . gah." He threw his hands up, one of them still holding the staff, almost hitting me in the head, "Sorry, but you said you believe in Jack Frost right?"

Jeez, did this guy have hearing problems or something?

"Yes." I sighed.

"Well, here he is." He stood there, looking at me expectantly, like I was supposed to applaud or gape or something, but I couldn't think.

"Wait, what?" I asked, a dumb look on my face.

"Here's Jack Frost, right in front of you, me." He looked at me again.

I paused.

And thought.

And thought some more.

And realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Woah!" My arms flew off in crazy directions, making me lose my balance, and I teetered, one foot slightly off the ice and in front of me, leaning backward, arms wind milling.

Worry darted across his face and he reached out to grab one of my flailing arms, pulling me forwards onto the snow. I stumbled into him, and he stumbled backwards, ending up with one foot behind him, steadying himself and me.

Having regained my balance and 'dignity' I straightened and let go of him. He let go of me as well and looked at me, almost nervous as to what I would say next.

"So . . .you're telling me that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Jack Frost are real? They're not just in songs like, '_Up on the rooftop click click click, down through the chimney with old Saint Nick' _and '_Jack Frost nipping at your nose'_. You're saying those songs are about real people?" I asked incredulous, and singing the excerpts of the songs as I went.

He took a deep breath and nodded at me.

"They're all real. There's even the Sandman."

I breathed out, "_Mister Sandman bring me a dream_"

He nodded again.

We paused, just staring at each other, and I realized how dark it was.

"Shit! I have to be home!" I dashed off, leaving 'Jack' behind to eat my dust . . . snow . . . whatever.

Ten minutes later I was back in my house, breathing heavily, and taking my winter clothes off.

I walked up the stairs, got into my bedroom and plopped down on my bed, laying back and breathing deeply, trying to get my breath back. I looked at the ceiling and thought about what 'Jack' had told me, about the Fairy Tales being real. Jamie would love it. He would want to know everything about what had happened, all the teeny tiny little details, and he would make me retell it five times, just so he would be satisfied. There was no way I was going to tell him.

**Please don't forget to review! Constructive criticism is appreciated. :)**

**Teshka**


	2. Chapter 2

"Jack Frost is real?"

I sighed, "Yes, Jamie, Jack Frost is real. As I have told you four times already." I mumbled the last part.

I had been called over to the Bennett's house when Jamie's parents wanted to have a date night. So, I was stuck babysitting Jamie and his little sister Sophie. As usual, Jamie started up a conversation about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, hoping to get good stuff this Easter. I had tried to stay silent during his tirade, but invariably he asked me what I thought on the matter and I said I couldn't care less, and eventually the meeting with Jack slipped out of my mouth and Jamie couldn't get enough of it. It had taken me a while to get him to understand things about Jack Frost, but when I gave him cold hard evidence, almost literally, seeing as he had had that killer sled ride, his eyes glowed with realization and he asked me to clarify five times, totally called it, that Jack Frost was real.

"Can I meet him?" Jamie asked excitedly.

"Well, not today seeing as it's almost nine o'clock and your parents will be home soon. Besides, you and Soph need to go to bed."

"Aaw man," he complained, "Can't I at least go outside and yell his name a couple of times?"

"No you crazy kid, you'll catch cold if you do that, and then what am I going to tell your parents?"

He groaned and got up from the couch, allowing me to herd him upstairs. When he was in his room getting changed, I went back downstairs to grab his little sister and succeeded in chasing her upstairs and tickling her until she was holding her stomach from laughing so hard. I got her changed with teeth brushed and tucked into bed in no time, and then it was Jamie's turn. When I walked in his room, he had a flashlight in his hands, obviously planning on staying up all night to see if he could see Jack Frost.

"If you stay up all night, he won't come. He's on his own schedule and is probably in some other town right now." I took the flashlight away from him and pushed him into bed, complaining all the way, and managed to tuck him in. I could see he was ready to jump out of bed again the second I left the room, so I sat on the side of his bed, looking at him and told him, "Okay look, I'll take you to the pool tomorrow and we can see if he shows up. Sound like a plan?"

His eyes sparkled and he replied, "Yeah." He promptly rolled over and I patted him on the head and left the room. I walked downstairs and turned off the landing light when I reached the bottom.

I only had to wait ten minutes until the Bennetts blustered in, bringing a wave of cold air with them. Their noses and cheeks were flushed from the biting cold wind. As they came in I shivered, and then thought twice about what the cold air meant. Maybe I could see Jack . . .?

I shook myself out of my reverie when Mrs. Bennett came over to the couch. I stood, accepted her thanks, and the fifteen bucks she gave me, then bade them both a good night, put on my jacket and boots, and walked the seventeen paces to my front door. On the way, I paused, looking up at the stars, thinking about a certain boy with white hair and blue eyes.

I chuckled to myself and walked the rest of the way to my front door, not realizing I was being watched by two glowing golden orbs in the darkness.

Jack saw however. He was perched on a telephone pole, having not much to do this early in the evening. His job would come around four in the morning. So while he waited, he decided to watch over Alana and her neighbor Jamie.

He waited patiently for her to come out of the house, and when he did, he planned on swooping down and talking to her, but then he saw the gold dots. They were dots from where he was, but they were glowing, and he thought they were eyes. He wasn't sure though, because he blinked and they were gone.

When Alana was safe in her house, Jack quietly flew down to the bushes. He crept up, his staff raised, then stabbed the bushes with it. The only thing he heard besides the bushes rustling was the sound of malicious laughter resonating from somewhere deep in the shadows.

Jack was unsettled, and flew to a tree outside Alana's window to watch her and make sure she was safe.

I was bullied awake by my parents at around three in the morning. They were shouting something about 'Lights'. I didn't realize what they were talking about until I looked out my window. In the sky, we could see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. I dashed downstairs to where my parents were putting on their winter clothing and asked, "Aren't we too far South to see the Lights?"

My mother looked at me, ecstatic, and answered, "Apparently not!"

She and my father were extremely excited and I could feel it flowing off of them in waves, which washed over and affected me as well. We dashed outside to get a better look at the Lights and stood in our driveway gaping at the spectacle above us. The lights flowed like rivers, constantly moving and changing, spiking up like mountains. There were vibrant greens, purples, oranges and yellows; even the rare blue flashed at us.

While we watched, I swore I heard a tree rustle, which was strange because there was no wind, but I paid it no mind: I was too entranced by the Lights. Not five minutes after they started, they were done. They receded back to the North and faded out. Nonetheless, we stood, gaping at the sky in silence for a few extra minutes before we became cold and hurried inside.

Once inside, we shucked our winter clothes and bustled into the living room, sitting on the furniture and relating what we had seen. It was mostly unintelligible stuff about how brilliant it was, yadda, yadda, yadda, but we continued speaking animatedly for at least five minutes. No one could fall asleep for at least another half hour, we were too wired at having seen the Aurora Borealis so we just sat in our respective rooms and stared at the sky, thinking of what we had seen.

When Jack saw the Aurora Borealis, he flew off, rustling the tree behind him.

"Sorry, Alana." He whispered to the figure standing in her driveway with her parents. He flew off to downtown, a back alley and stood there, thinking. Suddenly, two large furry things that were grunting threw a bag over his head and tossed him somewhere.

When Jack peeked out of the bag, he could see funny little creatures in onesies with pointy hats and bells on top. They were muttering to themselves in some sort of language, but Jack couldn't understand a thing they said. When he looked around, coming out of the bag, what he saw filled him with amazement.

He was in a workshop-type place with a huge globe as the centerpiece. There were tiny lights scattered all over the continents, and the globe rotated, so as he watched, he saw Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa, and then the Americas and Australia again. He looked around more and saw flying toys of helicopters, airplanes, even a flying pig, which was strange enough as it was. He saw at least twenty of those large furry things that had thrown him in the bag wandering about, and tons of the weird little creatures with pointy hats and bells.

Jack pulled his feet from the bag and stood up, turning so his back faced the globe, and saw a huge fireplace in front of which were four figures. One very large man all in red with a white beard and tattoos on his arms, one saying "Naughty" the other saying "Nice".

There was a six-foot-tall gray rabbit who would have looked fierce with boomerangs strapped to his back, had he not been delicately painting an egg and having a wicker basket hanging on one arm chock full of more painted eggs.

The third figure was female, but she had wings like a hummingbird and feathers all over her body. She was flitting around, talking to other hummingbird-like things in an extremely fast paced voice.

The fourth and last figure Jack looked at was a small yellow man with a onesie that looked like it was made of sand. His hair was spiky and arrayed around his head like some kid's drawing of the sun. He was hovering a couple of inches off of the floor, his head cocked to one side, seemingly sleeping.

"Good! Jack, you made it. So glad you could come." Said a Russian accent. Jack looked at the speaker and was surprised to see that the red man belonged to it.

**Alright, Author's Note: I'm not going to describe what happens at the North Pole because you should all know what happens because you all should have seen the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, then you obviously aren't at this point in the website.**


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, I went to the pool again, to see if I could talk to Jack about the Lights from last night. I took my iPod with me, of course, and decided to listen to the Phantom of the Opera while I waited. The musical always gave me intense feels, because I have always shipped Christine and the Phantom, never Christine and Raoul. I wanted to skip through the love song between Christine and Raoul, it usually makes me unhappy, but I figured I should listen to the entire musical.

Oddly enough, I got through the entire musical without a snowball being chucked at my head.

"Well this is weird," I thought, "Wouldn't Jack be here by now?" I called his name a couple times, to be met with silence. I wandered around, and decided to go 'skating' on the pool with my boots. I stepped on the ice and started sliding around with the music in my ears, and when my boots would start sticking to the ice, I would step in the snow to make them slippery again. **(A.N. try this, it really does work in real life, I promise. I do it all the time)**

The final chords reverberated through my earbuds and I stood in the middle of the pool, my arms thrust out on either side, hands up, head tilted back and eyes closed, reveling in the sound. When the music stopped for good, I plucked the earbuds from my ears and looked around again.

"Jack?" I called, hoping there would be a reply.

I waited.

And waited.

Holding my breath.

There was no reply. I sighed, and walked off of the ice, the snow being gone from the treads of my boots. I clomped out of the forest, the only sound being my boots crunching in the snow.

All of a sudden I felt watched. I spun around, looking, staring, searching for the thing that was staring at me. I shivered, but not from the cold.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" I waited again for a reply.

I didn't have to wait long.

"Well, I suppose I should greet you, after all, you can see _them_, so you should be able to see me." It was a dark voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. A man in a dark robe stepped out from behind a tree. I gasped. He had grey skin, a black, floor-length robe that went to his wrists, black spiky hair, and golden eyes.

"Who are you?" I said, trying to sound brave.

"Don't pretend to be brave, dear, I can practically taste your fear. And that's good. I like fear. In fact, I _need _fear to survive. So, why don't you be a little more afraid for me?" A black horse with golden eyes stepped out of the shadows. It was probably twenty hands tall, **(A****.N. one hand = 4 inches. This is how horse people measure horses, legit)** and terrifying.

Now, I'm usually not terrified of horses. I rode for three years, and still would be if I could. However, this horse was _scary_. I couldn't read what it was going to do at all. It was most likely wild. I backed away, trying to put distance. However, the horse and the man stepped towards me, one step forward for every step back. Eventually I ran into a tree. I had nowhere else to go. The horse stopped, but the man didn't. He was about 6'2", thus towering over my 5'6". He leaned in, grinning toothily, but his teeth were pointed, thus making his grin look manic.

"Now, I believe you asked my name. Well, Alana, my name is Pitch Black, otherwise known as the _Boogeyman_. Would you care for a ride on my nightmare?"

I could tell he was going to make me ride, even if I didn't want to, so I just stood there, eyes wide and breathing hard. He grabbed me, flipped me over my shoulder, and I screamed. I _hate_ being flipped upside down. Maybe I have trust issues, I don't know. All I know is that, if I get flipped upside down and I can't grab anything, I flip.

I screamed and kicked and flailed. He growled, and I could feel the rumble in his chest. Thankfully, it was a short ride on his shoulder to the horse. He threw me on the nightmare's back, and it tossed its head. I sat still, eyes wide, but I was still breathing hard. He jumped up himself, behind me, and reached his arms around my shoulders, caging me in.

He grabbed the main, and I followed suit, at least having that much sense in my terrified state, but I wasn't ready for a _flying horse. _The thing ran a few steps, bunched its muscles and launched itself into the air. I screamed, and he laughed a sinister laugh, definitely enjoying my fear. Even I could tell that fear was radiating off of me in waves. I ran out of air to scream with, so I took in a huge gulp of air and stopped screaming, but I was still nervous.

We dove straight down, into a tiny hole in the ground, and I groaned, not feeling well enough to scream. One more thing you should know about me, is that the feeling of weightlessness you get when you ride a rollercoaster, where your stomach feels like it lifts up into your chest; that makes me really uncomfortable. I never scream, but it makes me feel a little sick.

It was dark, but we landed quickly. When my eyes opened, I looked around. There wasn't much to see, it was too dark. However, I could hear something. A lot of somethings in fact, and the more I listened, the more it sounded like little birds. Strange, I wouldn't think birds would be in a dark cave like this.

Pitch got off the nightmare, then proceeded to grab me by the waist and haul me off.

"I know how to get off of a horse, thank you very much." I said, trying to keep my brave face on. He simply chuckled darkly.

"Oh, I know you do. However, I don't need you sliding off and getting an idea of running, I need you sane for the Guardians."

I looked up at him, confused, but didn't ask anything. I glanced around, panic beginning to grip me as I saw all of the shadows. He pushed me forward by my shoulders, and I squeaked, but stumbled forward, hunching my shoulders and hugging myself.

"Ah, afraid of the dark as well, are we? Well, don't look the shadows in the eyes, or they'll take offense, much like dogs do. I don't know what they'll do to you." He chuckled, and I shuddered.

Suddenly, he stopped me. I looked ahead of me and saw a huge room with tons of gigantic birdcages hanging from the stone ceiling by chains. As soon as Pitch entered the room, the bird squeaking stopped. I looked up at the closest birdcage and gasped at what I saw: thousands of tiny hummingbirds. But these weren't normal hummingbirds. The closer I looked at them, I realized they had human faces with hummingbird beaks as their noses, human hands and human feet. They looked down at Pitch and I, most of them looking at Pitch in fear, but some looking at me with apparent joy.

"What are they?" I asked, in awe.

"Tooth fairies." Pitch replied in disgust.

I gasped and glanced back at him, "Really?" I looked back at the fairies. "Wow."

He growled again, I noticed he did that a lot, opened something with squeaky hinges, and shoved me forward. I fell to the ground on my hands and knees, looking up when I heard the squeaky hinges again. Pitch slammed a door in my face and locked it with a skeleton key. I looked around and realized I was in a birdcage that was on the floor. Pitch walked over to a large crank in the floor and he turned the handle. The cage lurched and lifted off the floor, swaying, I fell, realizing I couldn't stand or the cage would sway, and sat in the middle, hugging my knees.

The cage stopped ascending, and I saw that I was at the same height as the closest cage. The tooth fairies were looking at me worriedly and I gave them a small smile, but then went back to holding my knees. I hoped Jack would find me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, sorry I'm really erratic about updating, but here's the next chapter, enjoy! Umm... a few notes before we start ;) I apologize that I most likely made mistakes with the way the story goes in the movie, it's been a while since I've seen it, and I have a terrible memory :/ I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, please forgive lapses. And now, without further ado, on with the story!**

Jack flew back to Burgess, and checked up on Jamie and Alana. Jamie and his family were fine, but when he flew to Alana's window she wasn't in her room. He flew around the house, looking in all of the windows, and saw Alana's parents in the living room, reading books. They looked fine, even though their daughter wasn't in the house. Jack thought she must have gone for a walk. Sure enough, when he reached the front porch, he found footprints in the snow, leading away from the house, towards his pool.

When he got to the pool, he saw she had sat on a rock, then moved to the pool, evidently skating by the marks on the ice. He also saw her boot marks in the snow near the ice where she had apparently stepped quite a bit, and then gone back to the ice to slide around.

Jack continued searching, and saw boot tracks walking towards town, turning suddenly, then backing themselves up against a tree. There were faint hoof prints, and he could just barely make out human footprints as well, sinking in more as they headed towards the hoof prints. Next to the hoof prints, there was an iPod. Alana's iPod. Jack picked it up and continued following. The hoof prints ran away, then sunk in greatly as apparently the horse had…flown?

At that point Jack stopped, scratching his head with his hooked staff, thinking horses couldn't fly. Suddenly, he remembered at the Pole and afterwards, when they had gone to the Tooth Palace to find the fairies missing and those nightmares flying everywhere.

Jack realized where Alana had gone.

She had been taken by Pitch.

Jack ground his teeth and yelled, "Wind! Take me to the Pole! Pronto!" The wind picked him up and flung him forward. He jetted over Burgees, and over more snowy territory. He was quickly over an ocean, and then more snow and ice. In short order he saw the top of the Workshop, and once he reached the window to the meeting room, he pounded the glass with his fists. Yelling for anyone to hear him and let him in, it was an emergency. North rushed in and opened the window, allowing the winter spirit and the cold wind that followed him into the meeting room.

Jack was breathing hard, and when he had caught his breath, he looked up to North and said, "You're gonna want to call everybody else." North nodded and turned the handle that released the Northern Lights.

The Guardians were coming.

I sat, staring at nothing, listening to the occasional chirp from the fairies, dried tear tracks staining my cheeks. I had cried silently, not wanting to give Pitch the happiness in hearing my sobs. I was scared, but the feeling was only a dull ache in my chest now. I couldn't feel anything else besides it. One of the fairies had been quite persistent with checking up on me, but I didn't really pay any attention to it. I was done feeling. I was sure it was night outside, and I wondered dully if my parents were worried or if they wouldn't worry, just assume I was out walking still.

I had already tried to find my iPod in my pockets, but realized I must have dropped it in the snow when I got captured. I hummed an excerpt of 'Hold Me Now' by Red to myself, imagining there was someone in the dratted cage that would give me a hug and tell me it would be alright. Unfortunately, no one was there.

_Fall asleep to dreams of home,_

_Where the waves are crashing._

_The only place I've ever known,_

_Now the future has me._

_I see the fire in the sky,_

_See it all around me._

_I said the past is dead, the life I had is gone._

_Said I won't give up,_

_Until I see the sun._

_Hold me now, _

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

_Waking up and letting go,_

_To the sound of angels._

_Am I alive or just a ghost?_

_Haunted by my sorrows._

_Hope is slipping through my hands,_

_Gravity is taking hold._

_Said I'm not afraid, that I am brave enough._

_I will not give up, _

_Until I see the sun._

_Hold me now, _

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

_Crying out,_

_These tired wings are falling,_

_I need you to catch me._

_As I burn,_

_As I break,_

_I can't take it anymore._

_I'll return to the place _

_Where the water covers over everything._

_Rescue me somehow._

_Hold me now,_

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

_Crying out._

_These tired wings are falling,_

_I need you to catch me._

_Hold me now, _

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

"_You're telling us that Pitch captured a kid? Really, Frostbite! How could you let that happen?!" Bunny thundered at Jack._

_Jack flinched and hung his head, but it was because Bunny was right. It was Jack's fault Alana had been captured. _

"_Will you help me find her?" Jack asked, dejected._

"_We know where she is, Jack. The problem is getting her." Tooth replied sadly. _

Jack flew over Burgess **(****A.N. yes, I know I have it written differently in the other chapters, but this one really feels right to me. I don't know if that makes sense or whatever, it just does.) **remembering his meeting at the Pole with the Guardians. He had felt so fired up, but then Bunny chewed him out, and Tooth lost confidence in retrieving Alana. Eventually, Jack had simply left, feeling too sad to talk to anyone anymore.

He flew to his pool, looking at the ice and remembering the spattering of moments he had shared with Alana – with and without her knowing – and eventually he brought his knees up and hugged them, putting his head in the cavity between his chest and legs.

"Jack!"

He looked up, grabbing his staff and hovered a few feet off the ground. He knew that voice…

"Jack, help!"

He raced towards where it was coming. He stopped at a clearing with the decaying frame of a bed in the middle.

"Jack, I'm scared."

He ran to the bed, and looked down. He saw a hole, maybe a yard across.

"Jack!"

He stabbed his staff down, frantically trying to break the one board that impeded his path. It broke, and he jumped down the hole, head-first.

What he saw was dark. There was little light, and the place seemed like a maze. Jack looked around, straining his ears to hear the voice again, and he heard it,

"Jack!"

He bolted towards the sound, and found a huge pile of gold tubes. He picked one up, realizing that they were the tubes that held children's teeth. Each tube had a face on it, and he picked up several, trying to find his.

"Looking for something?" A silky voice said.

Jack turned, pointing his staff at the owner of the voice, Pitch Black. Pitch was holding something gold. When Jack looked at it, he saw that it had a face much like his painted on the end. He reached for it, and Pitch tossed it to him.

Jack caught it, reveling in the feeling of having his memories so close, when Pitch spoke again.

"I'm honestly surprised you came here with only that in mind. I have something else that…_was_ precious to you, apparently not anymore." Pitch looked up, and Jack turned, also looking. What he saw, were birdcages; huge birdcages holding little blue specks. He flew up to one of them, seeing the tooth fairies trapped in there. They were twittering and gesturing wildly to another cage, isolated from the rest. Jack slowly flew towards it, and as he did he heard a song,

_As I burn, _

_As I break,_

_I can't take it anymore._

_I'll return to the place_

_Where the water covers over everything._

_Rescue me somehow._

_Hold me now, _

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

_Crying out,_

_These tired wings are falling,_

_I need you to catch me._

_Hold me now, _

'_Til the fear is leaving,_

_I am barely breathing._

He looked through the bars.

"Alana?" he whispered.

At the name, the figure inside jerked her head. Jack gasped when he saw her face; her eyes were swollen and her face was red. She had tear tracks streaming down her face.

"…Jack…?" The girl whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N. WARNING: morbidness in this story, a LOT of it. Pretty much the entire thing, in fact. I apologize, it will get better soon. **

**And now, on with the story**

Was it real? Was I really seeing Jack? I uncurled myself and crawled over to the bars, squeaking when the cage moved. However, I didn't stop. I reached the bars and pushed a hand through, straining to touch his face. To make sure he was real.

He seemed to understand what I wanted and floated forward, a shocked expression on his face.

Suddenly I heard Pitch laugh. I flinched, and Jack's guard flew up.

"Well isn't this touching? The little girl is returned to her prince. That is, if it was her he came for?" Pitch was at Jack's elevation, seemingly standing right outside of the cage. I scrambled to the middle of the cage, shaking while Jack hovered, glaring at Pitch.

"What do you _really _want, Jack? Do you want your memories? Or do you want the girl? You won't be able to get both you know. You have to decide. Return your memories to me or watch her fall to her death. You know how high up she is right? Not to mention the fact that she's in a steel trap, and once those fall, they flatten. Like bugs." Jack looked at me and then looked at his sweatshirt pocket where I noticed a cylindrical bulge. He hesitated and looked back at me. I could see the indecision in his eyes. He wanted his memories but wanted to save me as well. I made a split-second decision.

"Go, Jack." I said, strongly. He looked at me, dumbfounded.

Pitch laughed, "Oh look at _you_ being all _noble_. Are you really sure you want to stay longer? Of course, I'd love to have the company, but I think you're close to breaking." He smirked at me, but I didn't see it. I was staring at Jack determinedly while he returned my look with one of shock and indecision.

"Go." I whispered and turned so my back faced him.

"_Well_ now, isn't this priceless. Alright, either way, what have you done to _Easter, _Jack?" He gasped and I heard as he was sucked through the shadow to wherever Pitch had sent him. Pitch simply chuckled darkly and floated away on his nightmare sand.

I turned, and picked up the rectangle with cords attached. After I had told Jack to leave the second time, there had been a _thunk_ in the cage. It was my iPod. I almost teared up again, but didn't when I saw what song was playing.

It was _The Christmas Song_ by Nat King Cole. I smiled and hit 'play'.

_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,_

_Jack Frost nipping at your nose…_

Jack looked around. He was in one of Bunny's tunnels, surrounded by broken eggs.

"No, no, no, NO!" He blew through the tunnels and ended up in a park. The Guardians were all there, but there were no eggs. Bunny walked up to one kid and held out an egg saying, "Here, here's one, take it." Desperately, but the boy walked right through him. Bunny's eyes got wide, and he gasped, breathing heavily. He looked around, and saw Jack. He glared and stomped over.

"_You._ Where were you when the Nightmares came and destroyed the eggs?! Where were you? Huh?!" Bunny was furious. Jack held up his hands submissively and Bunny's eyes were attracted to the hand not holding Jack's staff. Bunny's eyes got wide again.

"You went…to _Pitch_?!" Jack looked at his hand, and realized he was holding his tube of teeth.

"No, wait, Bunny I can explain – "

"No. I don't want to hear it." Bunny stormed past him and didn't look back. Jack looked around at Tooth and North, but both of them shook their heads. They followed Bunny and again, didn't look back.

Jack let out a grunt of frustration and blasted off in a tornado of cold air. He flew as far North as he could without reaching the North Pole. Once there, he ran out on a spike of snow-covered ice and attempted to throw his memories away. However, he couldn't let them go. He yelled in frustration and the Baby Tooth fairy he had rescued fluttered restlessly around his head. He turned around and stormed back toward the mountain of ice he was on.

"Hurts, doesn't it, Jack? Do be liked by absolutely _no one._" Pitch's voice was smug.

Jack roared at him, whirling to face the Boogeyman, "_Shut up_! Just shut up, Pitch, I don't want to hear it."

"Oh I know you don't, but you need to hear it. Otherwise, how will I get you to join me? Oops, did I say that out loud? Must have slipped my mind." Jack glared at him.

"And while I'm thinking about it, you can have _this_ back." He pulled something, no some_one_ out of a shadow. They were curled up in a ball, seemingly sleeping, but they had ropes around their wrists, waist and elbows, and ankles. Pitch picked the still form up and tossed them toward Jack. Jack bent down, keeping his eyes on Pitch as much as possible, and looked at the prone form at his feet.

"_Alana_" he gasped. The poor girl had bruises on her cheekbones, and a black eye. Jack looked at Pitch again.

"What did you do to her?" He yelled.

"Well, you didn't want her, so I lowered her cage, thinking she would want to join me, but the door was apparently open and she jumped out oh, about ten feet to the floor. I'm sure she injured an ankle in the process, and then she ran towards the Nightmare pen. She jumped in and tried to tame one, foolish girl. So you see, it wasn't my fault that she got so battered. If I'm being honest Jack, which I _always _am, I'd say it's _your _fault she's like this, because you kept your memories and left her behind."

Jack gasped, eyes wide and getting blurry. He threw ice at Pitch who blocked it with sand, and a fight ensued. It ended, with a frightful black ice sculpture that looked like a spiky, dangerous wave.

Pitch sighed, "Ah, look at what we can do Jack, isn't it wonderful? Now, will you join me? You won't hurt another soul, I promise." Pitch grinned at Jack menacingly.

"Join you? Not a chance. Won't hurt anyone? No, but everyone will be _afraid _of me. That's not what I want. I don't want people's belief in me to be that of fear."

Pitch glared at him, "Well then, Jack. I guess you won't be needing _her_," He grabbed Baby Tooth and said, "The staff, Jack, you won't be needing that either. You won't be needing to be _yourself_ any more. You can die _alone_ out here. Give me your staff, and I won't squeeze the life out of this fairy."

Baby Tooth squeaked at Jack, shaking her head crazily, trying to tell him not to mind her, but after a moment's hesitation he tossed his staff down at Pitch's feet, holding his hand out for Baby Tooth.

"Now, give her to me."

Pitch looked at him and said in a cold, bored voice, "No." He tossed the fairy behind him and snatched up Jack's staff, tossing it behind Jack into a ravine and blasted nightmare sand at Jack, throwing him into the ravine as well.

On the way down, Jack hit several pieces of ice jutting out, and grunted when he hit the solid bottom. A second later, Alana followed him, but still unconscious. Not wanting her to get hurt, Jack jumped and caught her, landing on his back with a _whoosh_ as the air left his lungs for a second.

Jack heard Pitch's dark laughter as Baby Tooth flew down to check on Jack. Jack had sat up, attempting to untie Alana while tears streaked down his cold cheeks. The knots were really tight and he couldn't see though, so he gave up with a frustrated huff, sobbing and curling into a ball. Baby Tooth saw Jack's state and flitted over to Alana to see if she could do something about the knots. She made quick work of them, and attempted to lay Alana more comfortably on the ground. Alana was a full-size teenager though, and Baby Tooth made quarters look like the suitcases people use when they fly to a different continent for a month.

Jack looked up, his crying having abated some, and assisted in laying Alana out. As he shifted her, a rectangle slid out of her pocket with earbuds attached to it. He unwrapped the earbuds from her iPod, and looked at what song she had been playing. He gave a sad smile at _The Christmas Song_ by Nat King Cole, knowing what the second line of the song was. He returned the iPod to her pocket, and pulled his tube of teeth out of his own pocket.

He set it on the ice in front of him, his knees tucked up to his chin, and stared at the golden tube.

He sat there for a long time, just looking and listening to Alana's deep breathing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, it has been a looong time since I updated last. I apologize greatly, I would make excuses, but I find it slightly silly/annoying (not trying to be rude, I promise) when other authors do it, so I will save you that. **

**The truth is, I was simply too lazy to write, and then I was busy with stuff. :( I hope it won't happen again, but if it does, I sincerely apologize. **

**Without further ado, the story.**

I was cold. My back more than my front, but I was still really cold. It was like I was lying on ice. My eyes cracked open, and it felt like they were glued shut. I groaned and blinked, trying to take in the bright blue and white around me. I squinted, and slowly, everything came in to focus. I was looking up at the sky through a gap in two huge ice-cliffs. I tried to sit up, but groaned again when my body protested. I heard a rustle of fabric and saw more white, ringing two pools of aquamarine filled with worry.

"Alana?"

"Jack," I mumbled, "What happened?" Suddenly, memories flooded me like a tsunami. Jumping ten feet from the cage. Twisted ankle, too scared to stay still. Running, running, always running, until I reached the pen. Jumping through the gaps in the fence, forgetting Nightmares aren't friendly, getting battered by hooves, pain, _pain_, blackout.

I gasped for air, sitting up suddenly and realizing that I couldn't see as well out of my left eye. I reached up my hand and touched the skin there and sucked in a breath. It was swollen. I probably had a black eye. I lifted my other hand and continued taking stock of my injuries. Cheeks hurt, shoulders hurt, upper arm, lower arm, wrist, ribs, thigh, shin, ankle. As I got down to my right ankle, I hissed in pain. My ankle was swollen twice its usual size, and refused to move. I knew it wouldn't hold my weight. _Great_, I thought. _It's probably broken. Just fantastic._

Jack had watched all of this with no small amount of trepidation and as I looked away from my ankle, I glanced up at him to give him a reassuring smile, but stopped when I saw his expression. He looked broken.

"Jack?" I reached out a hand and touched his cheek. He flinched slightly and I pulled back, but reached forward again to try to give him some comfort. The corners of his mouth pulled up, but it wasn't a smile. His eyes screamed of pain and confusion, and his mouth made it look more like he was grimacing.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He let out a wet laugh.

"I left you there selfishly, the Guardians hate me, and now I'm stuck at the bottom of a ravine with the only person who's ever been able to see me, a tooth fairy and my memories, which frankly, I don't even know if I want anymore."

I paused, thinking about what he had said and what I would say as a reply. Finally, "Jack, I want you to know that I don't blame you at all. If I did, it would be to blame you for making my life really fun, which isn't a bad thing." I smiled at him, trying to reassure him. "I'm sure the Guardians don't hate you, and unfortunately there's nothing I can do about the ravine, but I know that I can do something about your memories. Look at them. Figure out who you are and why you're here. I know you want to, that's why I told you to go. I knew you wanted to see them, and since you haven't yet, I'm telling you to look at them now."

He looked at me, still sad, but now slightly awestruck. He smiled this time, and reached over to the gold tube with a face like his but with brown hair and brown eyes on one end. "Baby Tooth, how do I work this thing?" He asked the small fairy. She fluttered over to him, and put her tiny hands on the flat part of the tube, gesturing for him to do the same.

He looked up at me and I smiled reassuringly, then turned his eyes back to the tube and gently touched the surface. As soon as he touched it, the paneling melted away, and Baby Tooth pulled her hands back. Jack's face was lit up with a golden light, and he looked at the tube in surprise and wonder.

Jack was hurled into his memories and watched as a little girl and her friends laughed at a teenager hanging upside down from a tree, and the same teenager and girl hanging out and playing together. He saw the two of them leave a small cottage with ice skates over the teen's shoulder and walk towards a pool that looked eerily familiar.

The girl stood in the middle of spider webbing cracks, and the teenager reassured her, and told her what they would do. "We're going to have a little fun."

"No, we're not!"

"It's like hopscotch. Ready? One, two, three!" The teen thrust out his staff and hooked the girl around the waist, pulling her away from the cracks. Then he dove forward and landed on the cracks, and as he fell through, he heard the girl cry out, "Jack!"

He looked up from the tube gasping, the light having gone out.

"D- Did you _see that_?" He asked incredulously. "I had a family, I had a _sister_!" He looked around, still breathing heavily, and Baby Tooth and I looked at him like he was crazy.

He seemed to realize that and looked back down at the tube, smiling to himself.

"Jack?" I asked cautiously. He looked up at me and said simply, "I know what my center is." I gasped.

"What is it?"

"Fun. I'm the Guardian of Fun." He beamed at me like a kid on Christmas.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow! I sincerely apologize it took absolutely forever to upload this, I had most of it done, and then just...didn't...write any...more... I do apologize, I would make the excuse of school and work and being busy and stuff, but really, I just forgot and put it off. I sincerely apologize! This is the second to last one, I think I'm just going to improv. the last part, and let it write itself, I apologize if parts of this are awkward reading or anything, I was lazy again...:/ Anyway, after this, you won't have to worry about being annoyed with me for not updating, you are completely entitled to do that. **

**Thank you for reading, here's the story :)**

I beamed at him, "Congratulations!" I reached forward and wrapped my arms around him. He stiffened, but curled his arms around me, returning the hug. He pulled me forward, and I hissed, cringing. He pulled back, a worried look on his face, and I put a hand on my ribs.

"Sorry." He muttered, then got up and walked over to his staff. I gasped.

"Jack, your staff…it's broken."

"I know. Pitch did this. But, I think I can fix it now." He looked at me reassuringly, but also unsure. He picked up the pieces and banged them together, straining, and they broke apart again. He scowled and touched them to each other, more gentle this time, and scowled at the two pieces of twisted wood. He strained, and there was a sudden bright light, and ice once again coated his staff. He touched it to several different surfaces, grinning each time frost made an appearance, and dashed over to me, picked up his tube of teeth, and picked me up, holding me to his side.

"Let's go back to Burgees." He beamed and I returned the smile, but slightly strained.

"Let's go." He shot upward, with Baby Tooth fluttering around us, and whooped with joy. I smiled and tried to retain body heat, but with the cold wind and Jack's cold chest and arm wrapped around me, it was difficult. Soon, my teeth were chattering.

"J- J- Jack, I d- don't s-suppose you could…make the wind a l- little…w-warmer, c- could you?" He looked at me, slight surprise on his face, and called out to the wind, "Wind, be warmer, jeez!" A playful smile stuck to his face and the wind complied. I sighed "Thanks," as I felt my extremities slowly warming up again.

It took us roughly eight hours to reach my hometown, and once we were there, it was dark out. All of the streetlights were on, and the roads were empty. We swooped down into Jamie's driveway, and I was sorely tempted to ask Jack to take me to my house, but I didn't, because I felt like I had to help him.

We walked up the driveway, well, Jack walked, I kind of hobbled, but we got there, and got Jamie to help us. Suddenly, there was a great noise like something being un-suctioned, and there was the sound of jingling bells and a man yelling "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" We turned, and North's sleigh smashed down on the asphalt in front of Jamie's driveway. Out staggered North, leaning on his two swords, and Tooth weakly fluttered out. Jack helped me over to them, and asked, "But, where's Bunny?"

North looked at Tooth and said, "Losing Easter took its toll on all of us. Bunny most of all." He and Tooth backed away from the sleigh and Jack said, "Oh no."

Bunny was the size of a normal rabbit. He snuffled, and Jamie walked up to him, disbelieving.

"That's the Easter Bunny?"  
"Now somebody sees me, I mean, where were you about an hour ago, mate?"

"What happened to him? He used to be huge and cool. And now he's…cute." Jamie reached out a hand to tickle Bunny's chin and Bunny liked it, but batted Jamie's hand away with a growl and looked to Jack.

"Did you tell him to say that?" He hopped off of the sleigh and over to Jack, "Let's go, me and you. Come on." He bounced around, lifting his fists, and I let go of Jack, allowing him to get some room, while I stood on one leg. Jamie approached Bunny again and said,

"No, actually he told me you were real. Just when I started to think that maybe you weren't." Bunny looked from Jamie to Jack a few times, then said,

"He made you believe? In me?" and when Jamie nodded, Bunny looked to Jack and smiled.

"Alana, are you okay?" Tooth fluttered over and asked. Everyone turned their eyes toward me. I looked down at my feet, embarrassed.

"Well, actually, I think my ankle's broken." I looked up, a guilty smile on my face. Tooth's breath sucked in and she touched my shoulder.

"Your house is there," Jamie gestured. I smiled sadly at him.

"Yeah, but they wouldn't let me leave, and I have to be here. If anyone has two pieces of wood or something straight and some strips of cloth, that's work as a splint."

"I've got my boomerangs, you can use those." Bunny offered.

"And I have cloth." Said North. He reached into the sleigh and pulled the tools out and handed them to me. I took them, sat down as gracefully as possible, wincing slightly, and placed the boomerangs on either side of my ankle, tying them together with the cloth. I looked to North, "I don't suppose you have a crutch or two?" He turned and rifled around in his bag, and pulled out two crutches.

I thanked him and pulled myself up with their help. Once I was standing again, I looked up to the sky and paled, seeing Pitch on a cloud of Nightmare sand. Everyone's eyes followed mine, and Jack got us all sleds to ride on.

However, calling them 'sleds' is too kind a word. We were actually riding on trash lids over ice that he made on the road. It was terrifying, but immensely fun at the same time.

When we got to where Pitch was, we stood in a group, surrounded by nightmares. It didn't look good for us. The Guardians were weak, Pitch was strong, and along the way we had picked up Jamie's friends. We stood behind the Guardians while they bantered with Pitch, and then when Pitch asked, "Who will protect you?" Jamie replied, "I will." All of the other kids, including Cupcake surprisingly, walked forward and said the same. When they were all done, I hobbled forward and glared at Pitch, and said, "I will." I wasn't afraid of the Boogey man anymore.

He glared at us and threw nightmares at us. I hobbled in front of the kids as fast as I could and reached up to block them from the nightmares, but as I came into contact with that first nightmare, gold sand radiated out from where I had touched it. The kids following my example, began running around touching anywhere they could reach, usually the legs, of the terrifying horses and turning every one of them into golden sand.

Eventually, the gold sand won out, and Sandy was reformed! He turned all but a few of the nightmares back into Dream Sand as Pitch ran away, a very scared look on his face. He reached Jack's pool, and ran into North. It would have been comical, had the Guardians not been so serious and Pitch so weak. He scrambled backward as best as he could on the ice, and North commented, "Leaving so soon?"

"You didn't even say goodbye." Tooth flipped a quarter through her fingers then tossed it at Pitch.

"A quarter." He said with disdain, but it didn't last long, because Tooth punched him in the face and he lost a tooth. He shouted, and Tooth shook her fist.

"And that's for my fairies."

Pitch stood up and said shakily, "You can't get rid of me, not forever. There will always be fear."

"So what?" North asked, "As long as one child believes, we will be here to fight fear."

"Really? Then what are _they_ doing here?" Pitch asked menacingly, gesturing at the ten or so nightmares around us. The Guardians looked around and North laughed, "They can't be my nightmares, I'm not afraid." There was a pause, as Pitch looked confused, then Jack stepped forward and spoke.

"Looks like it's _your_ fear they smell."

Pitch looked around, scared, probably for the first time, and tried to run away from the Nightmares. It didn't work, of course. Horses can run faster than a person.

He was engulfed in nightmare sand and dragged down the hole with the broken bed over it, and the last thing we heard as the wood disappeared was Pitch yelling, "No!"

**I'm gonna go do the last part now, so it should be up today :) If it's not, feel free to yell at me *guilty smile***


	8. Chapter 8

After Pitch disappeared, the Guardians went back to their homes to go back to some semblance of normality. It was sad, as all of the Guardians piled into North's sleigh, and Jamie ran up and gave Jack a great big hug. All of the kids were there, and none of them looked very happy. Sophie wanted Bunny to stay, and you could tell he wanted to, but couldn't.

Jamie was worried he wouldn't believe anymore, but Jack reassured him that he would, and then Jack looked up at me, and I looked back from my place at the back of the group, standing on ice, with crutches. I know, not one of my better ideas. However, it was worth it when Jack walked over to me and gave me a great big, awkward, hug.

"I'll always try to believe, I promise." I whispered into his cold, pale ear. He nodded against my shoulder and said, "I'll give you crazy snow-days every year so you never forget." Then it was my turn to nod, and we just stood there for a while, hugging, until North cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly. We pulled apart, and Jack flew over to the sleigh. Everyone had tears in their eyes, and then the Guardians flew off, into the clouds.

We stood on the ice of the pool until we couldn't see the red sleigh anymore, and longer, straining our eyes to _try_ to see it. Eventually, we had to go home, and I shepherded the kids over the ice, through the snow, and back to the street so they could go home. I made sure Jamie and Sophie were in their house, and then I stood at the base of my own driveway and looked at my house, trying to gather the courage to walk in. I took a deep breath, and hobbled up the driveway, watching for icy patches.

I opened the door, and it was a weekend, so both of my parents were home. When I opened the door, I said, "I'm home," just loud enough so they could hear me. It was difficult to take my shoes off, but I managed it, just as my parents walked into the hallway that led into the rest of the house. They stood there, tears in my mom's eyes, staring at me, taking in the sight of me, after being gone for a while, and they rushed forward and almost smothered me.

It wasn't bad though, because I had missed them. Being with them gave me some semblance of normality; it was nice.

"Where have you been?" Mom asked, her voice choked with tears. This was the hard part. Telling them where I'd gone.

"I…stayed over at a friend's place…?"

They pulled back from the group hug disbelievingly.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." They paused, then nodded their heads. I would tell them someday, but not right then. It wasn't a good time, and I just wanted to go up to my room to take a nap. I was _tired_. I think they saw that, because they let me go.

When I got into my room, it was about three degrees colder than the rest of the house, and there was a shape in frost on my window. It had been done just before I walked into my room, because the frost was still forming little trails radiating out from the middle.

It was a heart, and it was adorable. I walked over, and put my hand on it, feeling the cold, reminding me of the icy ravine and Jack's cold skin. I closed my eyes, sighed, and crawled carefully between my cold sheets, shivering until they took in my body heat. I was out as soon as they started to get warm.

Jack had made the shape, knowing that she would see it at some point. However, when she walked through the door just as he was finishing it, he had dashed up to her roof and peered over the edge as he saw her see it, go over to it, and put her hand on it. He had wanted to put his hand over the heart, mirrored with hers, but North had lectured him on the way to the Pole that Guardians and humans couldn't be together.

She had sighed, pulled her hand away, and he sighed outside. He watched her shiver under her blankets for a while, then she stilled and her breathing evened. A trail of dream sand glided through the glass in her window and hovered over her head. What Jack saw made him gasp. It was the Guardians, in all of their proud glory, and then the dream focused on one Guardian in particular: a boy with a crooked staff. Tears pricked his eyes and he flew away, pretending the wind was making his eyes water.

He made the mother of all snow storms that day, however it wasn't sleet he gave Burgees, it was big, fat snowflakes that gave the town three feet of new, fluffy snow. He made sure cars were off the roads before he gave them the really big stuff, didn't need cars going off into the ditch.

He looked in her window one more time before he left, and as he left, words and shapes frosted over her window: a heart, her name, _Alana_, and the figure of a girl and the figure of a boy with a crooked staff. They were holding hands.

**There we are, the last one. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I didn't make anybody too angry X) I apologize again for taking forever to upload chapters, and I suppose I should do the whole 'disclaimer' thing, but it should be obvious that I don't own ROTG, only Alana. She is _mine. _XD Oh, and Jack wants her too...XD too bad Frost!**

**Aanyway, again, I hope you enjoyed, and thank you sooo much for sticking with it/just joining now but still reading all of the way through, it makes me really happy :)**


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